Residential Lighting

It has been a long journey working to transform the residential lighting market. Efficient residential lighting, one of the longest standing efficiency program measures, saw several groundshifting market developments in the past year. Most notably, the introduction of lower-lifetime LEDs disrupted the market with their significantly lower price points; smart lighting products coming to market; and changing federal standards and specifications. Looking forward, there are significant quantities of savings that remain in the residential lighting market.

The Path Forward

In conjunction with the 2015-2016 RLS Update, NEEP leads a leadership advisory committee that brings together leaders from efficiency programs and manufacturers to focus on residential lighting. There are several market opportunities that programs can take advantage of, such as LED popularity; smart lighting; ENERGY STAR Luminaire Specification; improved linear fluorescent efficiency; and advancement of national efforts, in which they can leverage and transform the market. NEEP found that through a Market Adoption Model analysis, in aggregate, the regional gross annual savings potential was in the 2-3 TWh range.

NEEP is confident that the region can achieve market transformation. The regional goal NEEP has put forward is to reach a socket saturation of 80-90 percent efficient quality lighting by 2022. Over the course of the next 5 years, that could add up to over 15 TWh of total savings for the region in the timeframe. Market transformation, as established in our goal, is achievable by following the eight recommended strategies:

1. Continued program administrator support for residential lighting

2. Program administrator transition portfolios in the short and medium term

3. Program administrators target LEDs in hard-to-reach markets

4. Program administrators consider including smart lighting in portfolios

NEEP continues to see cost-effective savings from residential lighting products. The residential lighting market is far from transformed, and there is a lot of work to do to ensure customers are selecting the most efficient lighting products over their inefficient counterparts. NEEP’s role in the regional market transformation of efficient residential lighting will be to chart progress towards the goal as well as to report on market developments as they come.